Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-10-27

for him to study, and. anyhow. base
| Dsll matches were far more impof tant
than spelling bees any day."
Miss Belcher had hired small hall
for the occasion. with square plat
form, on which her twenty boys could
sit comfortably in a circle without
being crowded. There were fifteen
| rows of benches for the audience to
occupy, each bench seating about ten,
and they were ali well filled with the
boys parents and friends, who had
come either to congratulate or condole
with them.
Miss Belcher, with her roll of words,
sat in a high chair to one side, facing
the audience, while on table beside
her were the two dictionaries, Web
ster and Worcester, SO that there could
be no dispute over the different ways
OF spelling the words
She was a very stiff, middle-aged
lady. with light curls. and looked ex-
ceedingly stern; but she was by no
means disagreeable, and the boys all
liked her immensely. She was gener-
ally spoken of as being ''crisp and
abrupt. but undeniably just"
At eight o'clock precisely Miss Bel
cher tapped a bell, and it Immediately
commanded silence. Then. smiling,
and shaking her curls. she leisurely
unrolled her manuscript and turned to
the boys.
Il hope, my dear pupils" began
Miss Belcher. in her sharp. quick voice.
''that you will all do me credit this
evening. hope particularly that you
have all studied, and though you all
can not win, it will be plain to both
myself and the assembled audience
here, who have been the studious ones.
On other occasions of the kind. more
through chance than any thing else.
my most indolent pupils won the prize.
Then there was no studying allowed.
Now we shall see."
And. smiling more broadly than ever,
Miss Belcher gave her curls another
shake.
BY some unlucky chance Philip was
number one. How he got there he
never knew. but he would have pre-
ferred greatly to have been anywhere
else. So much was expected of head
boy. and he looked little obviously at
Fred, who was number sixteen or seven
teen.
Number One-twelfth!'
And Phil positively jumped, SO sharp
and sudden was the little word said.
1t was like Miss Belcher to hurl word
at fellow like that and he felt very
indignant but catching the eyes of
the audience beginning to twinkle as
he hesitated, he spelled it quickly. and
was rather surprised to hear the same
sharp voice say Correct" he was
SO certain he spelled it wrong.
The fifth boy failed on Forty" and
went shame-faced outside the circle.
Phil laughed to himself. and won
dered why the boy should blush. He
would not have cared. The boy was
scared. no doubt and knew how to
| spell the word we'll enough
At the end of the second round, six
boys had failed, but Fred still kept his
place. and was now only few chairs
from Phil, who became more nervous
at each word that fell from Miss
Beicher's firm lips.
Number one again-gensdarmes!'
"What was the word, please, Miss
Belcher?"
Miss Belcher repeated it, while a
faint smile lowered about her mouth.
She was waiting for Phil to fail, being
we'll acquainted with his lazy habits.
and did not pity him in the least
ut means a color, here in Ameri-
Ca" she explained, as Phil still hest
tated--"the color of the uniform worn
by policemen in France"
But poor Phil made no attempt to
spell it As far as he could think,
with all that stare of eyes upon him,
he had never heard the word. and felt
exceedingly indignant at Miss Belcher
that she should ask him to spell a
French word, forgetting that she had
said she ''included any word of ordi-
nary USE"
do you give it up?" asked Miss
| Belcher.
And then. with a bold attempt at
any thing, Phil stumbled over some
letters, knowing all the time he was
wrong, and then, a second later,
ceased to wonder why the first boy
had blushed when he stepped out Of
the circle.
Phil watched Fred enviously. rs
round and round the decreasing circle
went Miss Belcher. and still he kept
his seat. He could not say his words
were easy, either. for he spelled one
correctly that poor Phil would not
have known what letter to begin with.
At the end of the seventh round only
three boys were left Fred among
them. and stealinga glance in among